Dear Colleagues,
The old proverb “April showers bring May flowers” was originally written as “Sweet April showers do bring May flowers” in Thomas Tusser’s book A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry, published in 1557. While the literal meteorological and agricultural interpretation of this proverb is obvious, its broader use refers to the concept that patience and optimism during times of hard work or temporary difficulty can lead to future happiness and positive results.
As general internists, IM—Peds physicians, family medicine physicians, PAs, subspecialists in addiction medicine, occupational medicine and other fields, research scientists, and GIM staff, we are all quite familiar with the need for patience and optimism as we pursue our work in patient care, teaching, and research. We are also well aware of the joy that can result when our efforts pay off.
This month’s April GIM News is full of stories of “May flowers” blooming (or about to bloom) all around us. For example, one article describes how our and other VA—based faculty, to quote Chris Ruser, “provide invaluable, high—volume, high—quality patient care services.” We currently have nearly 50 GIM faculty based at the VA who are providing state—of—the—art patient care and education for our patients and trainees and performing world class research. I have a family member who received primary care at the VA for decades and has been absolutely delighted with the care he received from our faculty and trainees—an experience which reflects VACT's national reputation as an exceptional place to receive primary care. The efforts of Chris, Jeff Kravitz, Rebecca Brienza, Dan Federman, and countless others have led to this outcome, as a result of their patience, optimism, and hard work over many years.
Similarly, as outlined in the article, VA research has blossomed after years of commitment to patiently “tending the garden” from our faculty such as, Amy Justice, Lori Bastian, Anne Black, Sara Edmond and William Becker to name just a few. Next week, the annual VACS Scientific meeting, which will be hosted at Yale, will be Amy’s final meeting as VACS Program Director. Since she launched this program in 1999, her program has published over 500 peer—reviewed papers which have been cited tens of thousands of times. More importantly, this work has advanced the health care and research training in truly remarkable ways.
“BRAVO!” to our Yale VA colleagues and “BRAVO!” to the many other Yale GIM faculty whose achievements in patient care, education, and research are highlighted in this month’s edition of Yale GIM News!
We’ll certainly be surrounded by “May flowers” next week when many of us attend the annual SGIM meeting, this year in Washington. The meeting is always a highlight of the year for all of us - with great education, great science, and of course, great camaraderie for Yale GIM faculty, trainees, and alumni! As usual, Yale GIM will be front and center on the meeting agenda with nearly 50 presentations on the agenda by our faculty and trainees. Congratulations to all!
Happy Springtime to all—enjoy those May flowers!
Patrick
Patrick G. O'Connor, MD, MPH
Dan Adams and Amanda Adams Professor of General Medicine
Chief, Yale General Internal Medicine
Head of Advisory House, Yan House
Yale School of Medicine